


The Breakfast Parade

by hufflepirate



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Team as Family, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 23:29:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8642449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflepirate/pseuds/hufflepirate
Summary: The fact that he only has Grace until noon means Danny always planned to start Thanksgiving at 4 am.  What he didn't plan for was a Navy SEAL coming in through his window an hour later to throw a surprise team brunch for a parade of their friends and teammates.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've just gotten into this show and I'm only halfway through Season 2, so please forgive any inaccuracies! Also, please don't spoil anything in the comments! Thank you!

Danny almost felt bad for having woken Gracie up so early as she half-dozed in his arms on the couch. "Look, Monkey," he said, pointing at the tv, "It's the Pikachu balloon!"

"I see it, Danno," she answered, like she was trying to sound excited but just didn't have the energy, "How big d'you think it is?"

"Oh, I'd say about 30 feet long," he guessed.

" _And he's 53 feet tall and 36 feet long!_ " the commentator announced on the tv.

Grace giggled. "3 _6_ , Danno!"

"Oh, yeah, 'cause you knew that, huh?"

Grace giggled again, and Danny tickled her sides, trying to keep her laughing. He only had her until noon, and he wanted to make every second count, before he was spending the end of Thanksgiving alone.

Two marching bands later, Spongebob Squarepants drifted along - "How big, Danno?" Gracie asked again.

"Oh, that's how it's gonna be, huh? That's how it's gonna be?" Gracie shrieked with laughter as he blew a raspberry against her neck. "35 feet."

It was 41 feet long, and this was the game now. Danny was ok with that. At least Grace seemed a little more alert.

Suddenly, he heard a noise from his bedroom and leapt to his feet, putting Grace behind him and scanning the room for anything he could use as a weapon. "Who's there?"

Steve McGarrett stepped out into the living room, "Relax, Danny, it's me."

"Uncle Steve!" Grace leapt off the couch behind Danny and ran to hug Steve, who caught her like he was expecting the hug.

"Relax? _Relax_? Did you come in my _window_?"

Steve patted Grace on the back and let go of the hug to turn toward Danny. "You said if I was gonna surprise you I should-"

"That was a _joke_ , Steven, _Jesus_. What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with _you_? It's 5:00 in the morning! Why are you awake? I thought you _liked_ sleeping in!"

"The parade started at 4!" Danny exclaimed. 

Steve leaned down to talk to Grace, his face going serious as he looked her in the eye. "Did he really make you get up at 4:00 for the parade?" Grace nodded. "And are you tired?" She nodded again. "And he thinks something's wrong with _me_!" Steve joked, cracking a smile, "You look like you need an extra hug." Grace wrapped her arms around Steve's neck again, and this time he stood up, still holding her in his arms.

"Something _is_ wrong with you!" Danny protested, "What are you even doing here?"

"I _was_ trying to get my frittata in the oven."

"Your - what now?"

"Mary Ann said it would be the best way to eat turkey for breakfast." 

"We're gonna have turkey for breakfast?" Gracie asked, clearly excited. 

"We sure are, sweetheart!" Steve said, looking her right in the eye.

"No, no, Steve, _we_ are having French toast. _You_ are a crazy person who crawled through my window at 5 in the morning."

"Malia said she was only coming if we had turkey. Her shift starts at 9:00 so she's missing dinner."

"Malia? What's Malia have to do with it? What are you talking about?"

"Is Uncle Chin coming, too?" Grace asked.

"Of course!" Steve answered.

"Of course?" Danny spluttered.

"It's not Thanksgiving without everyone together!" Steve finished.

"And who exactly is _everyone_ , Steven?"

"Me, Chin, Malia, Kono, and Kamekona. Don't worry, Danny, we're all bringing food."

"Don't worry," Danny scoffed, "And where is everyone going to sit? My apartment's not that big, Steven."

"I've got folding chairs in the truck."

"Of course you do. And when is this party starting?"

"7:00. Plenty of time to set up before they get here."

"Yeah. Great. Plenty of time to set up. Because that's what I wanted to be doing this morning." 

"Oh, shut up. You weren't even supposed to be awake yet. I'm gonna do it. You just sit on the couch and watch your parade."

"Are you gonna watch with us, Uncle Steve?"

"Sure, sweetheart. Just let me go get all the chairs and stuff first."

"And stuff. What stuff?"

Steve grinned at Danny, a dangerous look in his eyes, "You'll have to wait and see, Danno."

Danny groaned, and Gracie giggled, and then Steve put Grace down on the sofa and walked out the front door before Danny could do anything about it.

Danny pointedly refused to look at what Steve was bringing in through his door, but Grace kept flipping around to watch him, clearly excited. Danny tried not to be too annoyed that his idiot partner had barged in on his time with Grace.

At least the balloon game was going well - Danny was still almost always wrong, but so was Grace, so that was alright.

Steve finished hauling things inside and started setting up the chairs, then went back into Danny's tiny kitchen, where he did something that made clanging noises and that Danny refused to watch.

"Ooh, look, it's the Pillsbury Doughboy!" he said to Grace, trying to keep her focus on him, "How big do you think? I think....40 feet!"

"60!" Grace guessed.

"55," Steve announced from behind them, and Danny tipped his head back to look at him in spite of himself. Steve was watching the tv over the half-wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. "No - 54."

"There's no way it's 54 feet," Danny told him.

" _46 feet tall, 34 feet wide, and 54 feet long, it would take more than 4 million Pillsbury crescent rolls to fill the balloon_ ," the tv informed them.

Danny groaned as Grace giggled again. "Steven, you are ruining this game."

"What? There's buildings behind them. Good frame of reference."

"'Good frame of reference.' Yeah. Whatever. You got lucky."

He had not gotten lucky. He got the next 3 balloons right within about 2 feet, and things started smelling good in the kitchen, and Danny gave up and let go of Grace so she could run back into the kitchen to help.

Danny trailed after her, looking up over the wall to see what Steve was up to. "Are those _muffins_?"

"They're gonna be. It's a little early for cranberry sauce," Steve explained calmly.

"Can I help?" Grace asked.

"Sure! You wanna help me scoop the rest of these into the tins?"

"Yes!"

That was it. He'd lost her. This was Steve's Thanksgiving now.

Danny stopped Grace long enough to roll the sleeves of her pajamas up out of the way, then pulled out the stuff for French toast and shoved his way past Steve to claim what counter space he could. He was not about to let Steve's plans take away his special French toast. He was willing to make extra, though. He was lucky he'd bought enough to make extra.

By the time the others got there, there was food everywhere, most of it cooked, and all three of them were messy with flour and Grace had wiped bacon grease on her pajamas, and Kono laughed at them the minute she got in through the door.

"Yeah," Danny said sarcastically, "Laugh it up.   I'm gonna sic him on _your_ apartment next time. See how you like having Super SEAL here climbing in your window at 5:00 in the morning."

"Quit whining, you were already up."

"You were up?" Chin asked, "Why?"

"The parade!" Danny said, "Does nobody on this godforsaken island watch the Macy's Parade?"

"Bro, you know they replay that at, like, 8:00, right?"

"It's not the same!" Danny said, glaring, "You gotta watch it live!"

Malia, leaning on Chin's side, smiled at him, "I used to get up for it when I was little. But I was always an early riser as a kid."

"See," Danny said, "Totally worth it!"

By the time Kamekona got there with his new and experimental pumpkin spice shaved ice, there was even more food in Danny's oven or warming on the stove, and they'd all claimed chairs and started eating from plates on their laps, and Grace was running around between all the adults who adored her, and Danny grudgingly admitted to himself that this was pretty alright.

Malia left for her shift just as they were finishing up brunch, and Kamekona went with her to go back to his shrimp truck, where industry never waits, but the rest of the team stayed to watch the football game and play charades and eat extra muffins with Grace until Rachel came to pick her up. They carved out a whole extra 5 minutes of Grace time as she ran around to hug everyone goodbye before she would leave, but the second she was gone, it still felt like the holiday was over, and with half the day left.

Kono laid a hand on his shoulder, and he realized the sadness was showing on his face.  "Hey, Danny," she said gently, "We've got another hour and a half before Chin and I have to go to Tutu's. Let's do something."

He put on his best fake smile and went along with it as they dragged him to the table for a game of poker, played over the dried cranberries that hadn't made it into baked goods this morning, but it wasn't really enough. It was almost a relief when the cousins left and Danny could just collapse onto the couch and feel how he felt.

Steve collapsed onto the couch next to him.

"I'm not cleaning up this mess," Danny announced.

"I know," Steve said, putting an arm around his shoulders, casually, like it was nothing. "I'll do it in a minute."

"In a minute, huh?"

"At halftime."

Danny hadn't even been paying attention to the tv in front of him, but sure enough, the game was still going on. Or maybe it was the second game. He hadn't been paying attention for a while.  He nodded, and let himself relax into Steve's side, because with Grace gone after such a chaotic morning, he was too tired and sad to pretend he didn't want to.

"I hate it," he said vaguely.

"I know."

"I hate sharing holidays."

"I know."

"They're _holidays_. I should spend them with my _daughter_."

"I know."

"Good."

Steve didn't say anything back. He just got up and brought Danny another beer when he ran out, and started scrubbing down the kitchen at halftime, and stayed around long enough for Danny to remember that Steve didn't have anywhere else to be, either.

"Hey," he said, out of the blue, twisting around to look at Steve over the wall into the kitchen, "I'm sorry Mary Ann couldn't come out."

Steve shrugged, not quite meeting his eyes as he scrubbed down the sink. "S'alright. She's safer in LA."

"No, Steve, I mean it. I was gonna leave you alone in that big old house all day and stay here moping over Grace being gone. I'm sorry."

Steve nodded. He didn't look mad. That was probably good.

Loud cheers from the tv told Danny someone had gotten a touchdown, but he didn't bother to turn around to see who.  He was still thinking about holidays, and Steve, and neither of them being able to spend them with the people they loved most.

"You know what we should do at Christmas?" he asked.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Boxing Day. I get Gracie the day after Christmas. We should do Boxing Day together. All of us. At your place. We can do whatever for Christmas. Hang out or something. Chinese food and beer. And then we can do Boxing Day for real.  Like in England, or wherever.  Canada.  Whoever does Boxing Day.  I'll google it before then.  We'll do it right."

Steve snorted. "Sounds good, Danno."

"Good." Danny went back to watching the game, letting Steve keep cleaning behind him. He smiled, in spite of himself. It was good to have a plan, and even better to have friends. This holiday season might not be so bad.


End file.
